Thursday, October 11, 2007

Green ravioli with purple cabbage & sage

My mom has no family recipe; she's an orphan. I have no family recipe either... when I was a kid, my mom relied on making food to pay the bills; cooking was the least thing she enjoyed doing at home. But one thing she passes to me that I feel very important - eat your colors, which underlays the fact that we've been approaching food with diversity and variety. Back then each meal she prepared always included one type of meat, one seafood, and two types of vegetable. So the intake of food groups in one whole day, you do the math. For her it's a smart way to achieve a healthy diet. When I made this ravioli, I was aiming for very simple ingredients and light taste, but I still wanted variety. So I packed in two different vegetable - spinach and purple cabbage.

The amounts listed in this recipe are only estimation. Just trust your eyes and your fingers (to feel), they do the best judgement!

Recipe of spinach pasta dough

(yield: four x 20"-long dough sheets, can made about 20 ravioli)

1 bag of fresh spinach leaves (I forget my size, 8 oz?... I guess)

1 fresh egg

a good pinch of salt

1 - 2 tsps oil

some plain flour

How-to:

If there's any big stem in the spinach leaves, break it away.

Pre-heat a skillet, saute the spinach leaves until softens, about 1 - 2 minutes. Let cool, squeeze out and discard the juice. Puree the spinach. I only used 3 tablespoons puree in this recipe.

Pile up one cup of flour on a work table, well combine with the egg, the spinach puree, salt and oil. You should need to keep adding some more flour until a tender dough is formed. Knead until the dough looks smooth. Rest the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Roll the dough through your pasta machine, in between giving your sheet enough time to rest. I stop at the second-last setting.

Recipe of green ravioli with purple cabbage & sage(yield: 2 serving as the main course)

home-made spinach pasta sheet, recipe see the above

2 leaves of purple cabbage, finely chopped (for filling)

4 leaves of purple cabbage, shredded, for tossing

1 - 2 tablespoons of mild-flavored soft cheese

2 tablespoons of Grana padano (Italian hard cheese)

a small bowl of mashed potato or grated country bread *

1 shallot, diced

4 slices of salami... give a bit of smoky flavor to your dish

about 12 sage leaves

a bit of butter

salt and black pepper

* I aimed for heavily veg-based filling, so the carb only serves the purpose of holding the mass. Please adjust according to your taste.

How-to:

To make the purple cabbage filling:

Pre-heat a skillet, drizzle some oil, saute the shallot over medium heat until you smell the aroma. Add (2 leaves) cabbage, saute for 3 minutes (or your preferable crispness). After it totally cools off, combine it with two cheeses, mashed potato/grated bread, salt and pepper to taste. Now you can use it to fill in the spinach ravioli.

To assemble the dish:

To prepare a big pot of water and bring it to boil (at the same time please start to heat up your skillet). Add a big pinch of salt in the water, boil the ravioli until it's done, 3 - 5 minutes. Drain.

In a hot skillet, don't add oil and fry the salami over low heat, to let the fat release. Take out the salami (and dice them), set aside.

Add a bit of butter if necessary, heat up the same skillet, fry the sage leaves over low heat until they look crisp, you should smell the fragrant too! Take out the sage and set aside. Saute the (4 leaves) cabbage with a good pinch of salt over medium heat for 3 minutes or your preferable crispness/softness, toss in ravioli, salt to taste. Scoop them on serving plates, sprinkle the crispy salami and sage leaves, pepper to taste. Enjoy right away.

Gattina you are a ROCKSTAR!!! That is a gorgeous combination!!! LOVE the purple and green. :D So scale of 1-10 (ten is the best) how did you like the taste of these? Might be a sneaky way to get spinach and cabbage to my b. :D

Absolutely gorgeous! I haven't made spinach pasta in awhile, you've inspired me. I try to get a colorful plate for each meal. I'm so disapointed when I don't pat attention and end up with salmon, carrots and polenta - tastes fine but bad colors...

I didn't think it was possible--but the break you took from blogging made your talents even better! Those pictures are simply gorgeous--the pasta sheets look like beautiful fabric. Your mom raised a food artist!

The colors in your photos lately are even more stunning than usual. Did you get a new camera? I'm always so impressed with how you create the most gorgeous and innovative dishes yet write such simple, easy-to-follow recipes. You're really an inspiration, Gattina, and so is your mother. Thanks for sharing about her.

Lydia, really thanks a lot! My mom still pursues a large range of foods, I love even just looking at them :)

Sabrina, grazie! I'm thinking radicchio also wonderful, but I can't easily get it here.

Nabeela, thanks sweetie! Actually the first foto is too yellowish... blame my lamp, but no matter how I adjusted it still very yellow.

Tulip, grazie! Thank you for the visit :)

Asha, thanks for your compliment sweetie!

Rosa, thanks a ton! Only after cooked the green color should be dull... but only a bit.

BZ, oh you are such a darling!!! XOXOTaste-wise, I really adore them! But I don't particularly mention how I love the taste, as which is extremely personal (I know lots of people out there dislike cabbage). I also found purple cabbage tastes better than the green one, more sweet.

Shn, thanks for the sweet words! In fact, I just can't resist pasta... any kind! *gobble gobble*

Cedar, really thanks for the compliement!

Katie, before I never had a proper table for setting up the pasta machine, I was kinda of discouraged to do it regularly. Now for this apartment there is the mable table in the kitchen that seems being built for make home-made pasta... the landlord must be a foodie :)I adore salmon!!!

Sra, thank you for the sweet words!

Tigerfish... teletubbies *LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.........oh I love that!

Ruth, you're welcome. Have fun with your pasta machine... which I did :)

Sher, hehee... to be honest with you, it's hard to get back to blogging again, you know once the lazy-bone grew on my butt. But put it this way, I do enjoy the community, so I mostly concentrate on the few bloggers that I like the most (you!), now seems I able to enjoy more.

Tanna, oh you, so sweet!

Margot, thank you for the visit! I'm just back to blogging after a long break, will go and check the IFP up, thanks for letting me know too.

Burcus, thanks buddy! It is really a tasty dish, particularly if you're a cabbage fan.

Susan, how can I reach you (your link is broken)??? I miss your blog, and all your fantastic stories!!! Will you be back and let me know... please...Oh still the same old camera, but have changed my style (or judgement) in photo retouching.

This looks just fantastic. I really must compliment you (again) on you wonderful colourful pictures. They're a feast to the eye. Not just these fantastich green ravioli, but when I look at the previous post with those lovely berries.... I just love coming here and looking at them. Thank you!

Hi! Your ravioli are gorgeous. I've never done green ravioli, but let me tell you that spinach puree can be put to good use in pizza dough, too! I replaced some of the water in the dough recipe with spinach I cooked in chicken stock and pureed, but the results were nowhere near as fabulous as yours. Keep up the good work.